Kool-Aid Open Bar.

WARNING: I think the title says it all. If you want to maintain your pretense of a neutral tennis follower, then best scroll past this post all together.

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I have gotten myself into a bit of a predicament by creating a new ritual: whenever Federer wins a slam, I shout all my friends to drinks. The result? My booming popularity coupled by a deflating bank account. Guess I should think twice next time before I yell those 3 magic words – “drinks on me“. Whatever, I’d rather be a pauper with drunken and disorderly friends than a rich bitch with none.

But why should my personal friends be the only ones to benefit from my “boundless” generosity? After all, it was to you – Anonymous-Blog-Readers – that I vented, ranted, commiserated and celebrated tennis over the past year. While I can’t really buy all of you Finlandia Mules, surely I can afford a round of cyber Kool-Aid instead? Hey, it’s not gonna break the bank.

So drink up my imaginary free Kool-Aid while I vent some more on what I consider to be utter bullshit this week.

Nikefied Asshole? AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis

The thing is, I’ve tried really hard to take the high road. A part of me really can’t be fucked responding to claptrap. But if it’s threatening to piss on my bonfire while I celebrate the best tennis month I’ve ever had, then I’ve got to get it off my chest.

Let me preface by saying that I have no problems with anyone hating Roger Federer’s Wimbledon gear – it was highly risky fashion to start with. Nor do I care that a lot of people may be feeling more sorry for Roddick than happy for Federer right now. What I don’t like is how the media has branched out on those two premises into what I consider to be a personal attack on the Fed.

Among other things, Tennis.com, SI, the Times and the infamous Mirror have accused Federer of being arrogant, disrespectful of Andy Roddick, and classless. All this is apparently based on his post-victory interview and a jacket with an inconspicuous 15 on it.

Nevermind that Federer admitted he didn’t know about the 15 jacket beforehand – the fact that the jacket was a surprise from Nike was never really relevant in the media portrayal of “Jacketgate“. Instead, tennis fandom has used a gift from Nike to its most valuable player as the premise to launch some rather vitriolic attacks on Federer. Head over to GTT for some sense on this Wimbledon dead horse.

The notion that a jacket with a small 15 on the side, neither designed nor orchestrated by Federer, could equate to him being arrogant and dismissive of his opponent is just ludicrous and cruel.

Similarly ludicrous is the idea that Federer was somehow rubbing it in Roddick’s face when he said that he knew what Roddick was going through in his trophy acceptance speech.

Yeah, what an insensitive, heartless jerk. How could he possibly know what it feels like to lose an epic final to a long time nemesis?

The fact that Nadal gave Federer, almost word for word, the same consolation – “tough losing an epic match, I know how you feel yada yada” – just a year ago on the very same court was irrelevant and couldn’t possibly be regarded as condescending. It’s only condescending coming out of the Mighty Fed’s mouth. A guy who said this about his opponent is obviously deserving of some serious bashing:

Federer acknowledged his celebrations were somewhat reserved after a marathon 30-game final set but this was partly out of respect for an opponent he has now beaten three times in Wimbledon finals.

“It was a combination of being maybe a little bit sad for Andy after seeing Rafa was sad for me at Wimbledon last year,” he explained.

“I felt like it was such a gruelling match, everybody was tired and felt for Andy so I didn’t want to make a drama about it but I knew the importance and that it was one of the greatest moments in my tennis career.”

Yup, the guy’s an arrogant, insensitive ass. Was I the only person who thought Roddick’s quip was just part of his dead pan humor rather than any offense taken on his part? How about a truer representation of what happened during the post-match speech instead?

Condescension! Via Julian Finney/Getty Images

But there’s something even more insidious on than these allegations of unsportsmanship. Let me see if I can put a finger it – some writers have gone as far as saying that Federer misrepresents the sport of tennis by portraying the image of “a lucky, privileged Porsche-driving, mummsy-loving, polo-watching, country club dandy”.

Ummm … Do I really have to point out the irony that Federer’s being accused of portraying an elitist image at a tournament where the umpires and linesmen wear Ralph Lauren blazers?

And of all the things you can accuse Federer of, misrepresenting the sport of tennis ain’t one of them. Let’s see: did the guy take drugs? Snort cocaine? Did he pick out his wife from an SI swimsuit issue? Has he married and/or divorced a Hollywood actress? Does he ball-bounce excessively, grunt or cheat on court? Has he ever gone off at the umpire or the linesmen?

Instead, he marries the girl-next-door that he’s dated for almost 10 years. He carries himself so calmly on court that when he smashed a racket in Miami, it made headline news on CNN and became instant youtube sensation. He sells his RF merchandise and uses the funds to affect change in South Africa. He gives up more time for the press than any other player in order to promote tennis. This is a guy voted by his peers for the Stefan Edberg Sportmanship Award year after year. And somehow, because of a tracksuit jacket, we’re far too willing to toss his long standing credentials out the window, and cry “where is the old Roger?”

I’ll tell you how Federer has ‘misrepresented’ tennis: the day after the final, the two main newspapers in Melbourne – the Age and the Herald Sun – were inundated with letters to the editor congratulating Federer for his win. Not in the sports section, but in the general opinion section, next to discussions of government policy and international politics.

The Age dedicated its editorial of the day to Federer. Months earlier, when Federer lost to Djokovic in Miami, the Herald Sun ran a chatroom to discuss the crisis. I have never seen a foreign player spark so much interest for a sport that essentially expires mid-February in this country. Did anyone give a hoot that Federer wore a jacket with gold piping to celebrate his victory?

I just don’t get this bullshit. Among other things, I am truly shocked at how quickly haters, wait – ‘proper’ journalists, will jump on Fed’s perceived actions/inactions with a mob-like mentality.

Rub it in why dontcha: GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images

What disheartens me more is the stuff that’s been left out of the discussion:

Lost amongst all this brouhaha over Jacketgate and sympathy for Roddick is the very human story of Roger Federer.

A few months ago, he was written off, thought to be done and dusted. Incapable of winning another slam.

A few months ago, he was serving poorly, and losing clutch sets with epic meltdowns, and crying about it too.

He rebounded from that. He coped with the immense pressure and “the Monster” he’s created for himself. He achieved slam No 15, and got back to World No 1. And did I mention he worked his ass off in Dubai and in Italy to get his serve back?

Did I mention he didn’t choke in the clutch set, and came through the fifth set in this Wimbledon final with some serious wilanders of steel?

But all this seems so insignificant compared to a jacket.

If a celebratory jacket is capable of amounting to a scandal in Roger Federer’s career, then I’d say that’s a pretty good reflection on his character. If I were him, I’d take all this as a compliment and a sign that he’s playing well again. After all, no one kicks a dead dog.

I’m really surprised by the amount of attention his jacket has gotten. I really didn’t give the jacket much thought and I didn’t see anything wrong with his speech either. I thought he was gracious about it.

I think you said it right when you said “If a celebratory jacket is capable of amounting to a scandal in Roger Federer’s career, then I’d say that’s a pretty good reflection on his character”. I think it’s sad that the main topic of discussion is that jacket when there’s so many other better things to talk about. But if that’s the worst they can do, then whatever. You clearly can’t please everyone….

Great post. And it’s absolutely true — people have NOTHING on Federer because he handles himself well on and off the court, so they rip him on his clothes.

And yes, that line (“you already had five”) was totally a part of his sardonic humor. If not, it could be considered rude.

And yes again — it’s funny how quickly everyone forgets that he was WRITTEN OFF after last summer, even though he won the USO (the reaction to his win: “meh”). The guy came back from mono, back injury, and two (count ’em: TWO) painful 5-set Slam losses to take RG and Wimbledon again. But please, everyone, keep forgetting that and act as if it is all so simple for Federer, all the time.

Incidentally, I just finished reading Bill Scanlon’s _A Bad Day for McEnroe_, and I have to say, Fed’s gaffes (if one assesses them as such) are _nowhere_ on the scale of Mac and Jimbo and those bad boys (which are making me wish that Lendl and Edberg had kicked their asses more often, but I digress).

And yeah, there’s something called Davis Cup going on. You’d think the writers could focus on Blake vs. Karlovic? I mean, here’s two guys with a close H2H and major mental question marks and one of them’s American, hello? There’s all sorts of potential story and analysis one could get out of it, but do I see anything about it in the American-based other than from a handful of posters in the TennisWorld forums, half of them on other continents? YARGH.

Oh, and last but not least, if you’re ever in Nashville, I’ll buy you a drink or three. 😉 (Not an idle offer – the last two times I was overseas, I ran into a Glaswegian and then a Parisian who’d wound up over here. Just be warned that we’re a drinking city with a music problem. 😉 )

OMG I just love you sooooo much for writing every word of this !!! It’s just exactly what I would express if I were as talented as you 😉 I wish EVERY tennis fan out there would read that masterpiece instead of being influenced by these stupid media, who want one and only thing : more readers, and by any mean ! And we know that the best way for that is not professional ethics….

You really cheered me up because reading all this BS had totally depressed me. I think the worst of all was the Bodo one. I really hated him for that because I don’t know if he realises how much of a responsibility he has !! I mean he’s the main writer on tennis.com and he’s read A LOT. Doesn’t he have a little bit of professionalism ?? To me this article was nearly libel ! I was completely stunned at the end of it. Of course the one written by the Mirror was horrible too, but that’s what you can expect from them.

Anyway, hopefully for me in France people and press seem to love the fed so much that they do a lot less trash-talking like that. Of course, like all media, they started writing him off during the last 6 months or more, but I’ve actually never read ANY article in the French press or websites that would describe him as condescending or arrogant. On the contrary, they keep praising his graciousness… Go figure the difference !!

Anyway THANK YOU again ! And not only for this single post, but for all of them because I don’t think I enjoy reading a blog as much as I enjoy reading yours !

Hey whynotme, glad you brought up the point about the French media. I might get a bit of crap for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway:

1) I’ve read some French coverage of Wimbledon and I haven’t found any reports that raised this jacket issue.
2) There’s nothing on it in Australia either.
3) The only countries seething over this Jacketgate are the US and the UK.
4) The US media have been focused on Fed’s insensitivity Roddick’s loss.
5) The UK media have tried to bring Murray into a discussion that has nothing to do with him.

You don’t need to be a genius to join the dots. Something tastes like nationalistic sour grapes here.

Hear hear! Honestly, with the uproar surrounding him and his jacket you’d have thought Fed walked on court wearing a clown suit with ’15’ on the back in big flashing letters. As for disrespectful… I really can’t quite get my head around that, it’s not like Roger prepared a jacket with ’19-2′ on the back or summut, hmm?

“If a celebratory jacket is capable of amounting to a scandal in Roger Federer’s career, then I’d say that’s a pretty good reflection on his character.”
*claps* Letterings aside, it was actually a pretty unremarkable jacket. (Another story altogether with the waistcoat, that one was hysterical. Where’d it go anyway? o_o)

AMEN, dootsiez and fellow commenters! From everything I’ve heard, Roger is respected and liked by journalists and fellow tennis players alike. Some members of the media are trying to boost their numbers by these incendiary stories.

The thing that really bothers me, is that Roger does not deserve this in the slightest bit. You couldn’t ask for a more unassuming, low-key champion. How does it make him feel to have people treating him this way? Shouldn’t this be his big moment of vindication after the trials of the last year? And these people are making money off of him by trashing him.

I wish Roddick would come out and blast these people for their stupidity.

Spot on. Thanks for taking the time to express what I would have liked to say. I’ve never posted a comment here – a perennial lurker but faithful reader – but I had to this time. I was surprised by the “vitriol” of it all.

Thanks, Dootsiez, for putting Roger’s accomplishments and his contributions to the sport (and sport in general) into perspective. All this has been conveniently forgotten by people who just are looking for an excuse to hate on Fed.

Some people just don’t “get” Federer and I feel sorry for them because they don’t get to enjoy his beautiful game and glorious accomplishments! Seems like a big price to pay for trash talk.

Convenient amnesia is a sign of a hater no? You’re right, why focus on the jacket when there’s so much to be celebrated and enjoyed. I’m slightly rephrasing the sage – Uncle Toni – here, “taking the mickey out of someone is a slightly conceited way of amusing yourself”. Love UT ❤

You are definitely not sipping the kool aid here. The bruhaha that Jacketgate has caused IMO is completely out of proportion to the aspect involved. Here is a consummate sportsman who only chooses to indulge himself fashion wise in one grand slam tournament in a year and critics are extrapolating this once in year event to being the cause of decadance of not only Federer’s persona but also the sport of tennis itself. A completely absurd and mind boggling sentiment. I sincerely hope that this does not affect Federer’s psyche adversely and he continues in this vein defiant of his critics who do not at all reflect the mentality of the tennis fans en masse.

What you said is spot on and is exactly what I would have loved to be able to write myself. All the doubters should be made to read this, What people forget is that the 15 on the jacket was pointed out by Sue Barker and that Roger didnt even show it too anyone. Jacketgate is just silly and uncalled for. As for the comments made to Andy I agree I think that was just Andy being Andy and he took no offence as none was intended and I have had people say to me how dare he compare he has won five times so I am guessing once you have won your not allowed to be gutted when you lose what a load of BS me thinks. A true champion would always be gutted to lose. Rant over lol.

this is my first post here.and i must say that yours and GTT are by far the most cerebral blog there is…..i can name someone who has a so called blog but only to discover that all she has on his/her site is pure imitation of someone else’s.Talk about copy cats eh….and add to that a sore loser to boot.LOL!

look whos getting hysterical at all?aint that you smelly ass picker and ugly loser fanatic?LOL!Take some bitter herbs instead why dont you .maybe it will calm you down a bit.clearly your sorrows and disappointments over your loser idol/s made you want to howl and cry so pitifully.Join in the “fedtards”bandwagon.Dont be shy.You cant beat us so better join us.LOL!

Just discovered your blog and love it so much! I’ve seen a plethora of these blogs that claim to be fountains of witticisms but in reality are dredge pools of unreasoned hate and mockery and jealousy. So good to see Roger fans being represented!! 🙂

Haha, I just realized that my comment could be taken the wrong away! Your blog is the opposite of hate and mockery and jealousy. Still loving reading it, after all the crap that we’ve had to see over the past week.

Thank you for writing this. Roger Federer breaks the record for most Grand Slams of all time AND wins it in thrilling fashion and all people can talk about is a jacket that Federer didn’t even know about!

Hi Dootsie, very poweful post i thought. Coincidentally i wrote a post today ‘Is Roger Federer Arrogant?’. Lol! I just posted a link to this post on that post of mine. It makes me really sad when people focus on something like this when Roger has just created history…

Gosh! The media hysteria is really increasing on this topic!! I guess they can’t fault his tennis much and thinking about it, the media need to beat up on the Man of the Hour. Come to think of it, the lasses are not free from the media – remember Martina Hingis?! People also thought Sampras was boring, MacEnroe was a brat, Lendl was a robot, Edberg was boring, Borg was an emotionless recluse etc etc etc.

Look, the jacket was a tad pretentious. NOTHING wrong with the gold trim. The bag, must have been a dare from Serena that he wouldn’t dare do such a thing at Wimby…plus a lot of money riding on it! And/or Nike pay him obscene amounts of money to wear this crap and he’s persuaded that it’s all a bit of quirky fun and it’s something for the crowd to look out for and people to fondly remember….

YES I remember Martina Hingis. I found her ‘scandals’ more amusing than anything.

Sampras wasn’t as dull as most people gave him credit for. Anyone who has the ego to tell Greg Rudseski that he didn’t need to be half a step quicker to beat him, or Rafter that the difference between Sampras and Pat was 10 slams can’t be that boring, no? Fancy if Federer had said those things to Murray or Djokovic – the outrage!

I don’t care if people didn’t like the bag or the jacket, I do care if they’re going to launch into personal attacks based on it. You’re right, the media hysteria is all much ado about nothing.

i agree with you. in my opinion, the jacket with 15 in it, by itself, can be interpreted in various ways, and i guess as a fan it is understandable that i am more forgiving with it. what i don’t like is how haters interpret it COMPLETELY OUT OF THE GODDAMN CONTEXT. yeah, forget roger saying he’s lucky, forget his relatively muted celebrations, forget him saying he had to play his best to get through, that it was unfair, that roddick could’ve and should’ve won it too, that tennis is cruel like that, forget him being reluctant to just narrowing his potential opponent to murray even during the final… he still wore the goddamn jacket with a small 15 in it and he’s for that he’s automatically an arrogant slob. geez seriously.

Thank you so much for speaking my heart. I sometimes wonder all those so-called sports writers – how much do they ACTUALLY know about the game? get a life!!! I especially thought the Bodo piece was totally OTT. ***yuk***

Yea I’m really surprised by the amount of attention his gear is getting. I don’t really like the “15” jacket, but it’s not that big of a deal. I just haven’t been reading the shit they’re all writing because they’re obviously desperate for a story and obviously not good enough to come up with more superlatives to describe Federer. 😛

I knew his comments would be jumped all over by the media/non-Fed fans. They *always* take things out of context. I’m sure Roddick really didn’t take offence by the comment and I can’t see how people don’t get that Federer really understands. Did they not see how absolutely heartbroken he was after last year’s final? And that major slump he suffered afterwards? It wasn’t all a coincidence.

Also in comparison, Federer’s celebrations were nothing compared to Rafa’s from last year. In fact he just jumped up and down and smiled like a goofball. Rafa went up and around to the royal box and dragged it out more (which I don’t have an issue with). The moment is as much about Roddick coming heartbreakingly close, as Federer winning an absolute epic.

I know. I liked how Rafa followed Wimbledon “tradition” and climbed into his box to celebrate. But imagine if Federer had done that this year – arrogant asshole, how dare he flaunt his victory yada yada!

wow dootsiez….i didn’t know you could write like so! and yes i didn’t know this 15 jacket of his would cause such a hullabaloo. I saw your blog a while ago, but i haven’t read much from it…well, you’ve got yourself a new subscriber. =)

Wow. Amen to that, dootsiez. I’m really happy for Fed for winning 14 and 15 at Roland Garros and Wimbledon after a tough stretch when so many people were writing him off… but given the occasion, somehow I’m just not as elated as I should be.

Fed completely turns the tables to make friggin’ HISTORY, and instead so many so-called professional journalists are using this as an opportunity to write about his “insensitivity”, his supposed “arrogance”, blah blah blah. Hmm, I wonder what’s wrong with this picture? I mean, this guy Federer spends as much time in the press room answering your questions in 4 languages as he does on court, and this is the thanks you give him? It’s not all the journalists, of course–there’s certainly a lot of Fed love here in Asia 🙂 –but unfortunately the stupid ones always seem to get the most exposure.

Personally, I think it’s just sour grapes. I’m generalising here, but the British press in particular has driven me up the wall this Wimbledon. (Can you believe that, in Wawrinka’s presser after his 3rd round match, the one before playing Murray in the 4th round, they asked him 6 questions and all 6 were about Murray, and none were about the match he’d just played?!) I think they just can’t handle the fact that for once, a nice guy is winning. As Oscar Wilde said, “Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.”

Thought I’d mention something I overheard last month. An ex-student (now a pro tennis player) at my school had come back to visit, and he was saying how he used to hate Fed because it was so boring watching him win everything, but now he doesn’t hate him anymore because Federer is so nice and there’s nothing to hate about him.

And so, the haters have been reduced to making false accusations to make their pitiful selves feel better, and picking on his sense of fashion. Anyway, 50 or 100 years from now, no one will remember what the journalists said. History will only preserve the genius.

You’re right, just a fan, no one will remember this BS 12 months down the track, let alone in 20, 50 years. I don’t know what part of Asia you’re from, but honestly, the only journalists harping onto this are Americans and Brits. Nothing in Aus, nothing in the Chinese speaking media, or France as far as I can tell …

Wow. I was out in MN at my Internet-less Mom’s house during the last week of Wimbledon and missed all of the “arrogance” commentary. I only saw the coverage on ESPN2 the AP stories in the local paper and I am so glad! Normally I read all the tennis columns from sports media and dozens of blogs besides. I am SO happy that I was able to be very happy about Federer’s win and not have my happiness be marred by reading gratuitously negative commentary.
( I don’t get it. His PEERS repeatedly vote him the Sportsmanship award. Wouldn’t they know better than sportswriters?)
Thank you for writing this. You obviously were able to put into words what many people were feeling!

I just feel this fullness in my heart knowing people like you can see the real Roger amidst this ridiculous backlash. I guess when someone like him rises too high, all the petty people left on the ground feel the need to tear him down. He is TOO great and TOO good; people like that just can’t handle it. Their minds can’t understand perfection so they find flaws that aren’t there to settle themselves.

I take comfort in knowing that for every silly negative article that comes out, ten more are written that give Roger his due credit for being the most amazing athlete the world has ever seen. And of course, his fans leap to his defense whenever possible. I’m sure their (our) opinions mean more to him than any stupid reporter’s.

Excellent article !
I’ve always thought it ridiculous that “journalists” prefer to go on and on and on about a guy winning 15 slams wearing a jacket with a.. 15 on it and calling that arrogant as opposed to talking about a historic record breaking 15 slams, achieved by a person who was written off by just about all “experts”. Go figure.
So, great article! It’s very nice that you took the time to express yourself so well.

This is such a good post, they’ve only made a fuss about it because there is nothing that Roger really does wrong, it seems nowadays everyone can only pick on his clothes, they are all jealous- if it were Murray there wouldn’t even be an issue. I’d say that the Uk media was just sore that Murray got beaten by A-rod.